Political divisions of China

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

Due to the large population and area of China, its political divisions have always consisted of several levels since ancient times. The constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees three levels of government. Currently, however, there are five practical levels of local government in Mainland China: the province, prefecture, county, township, and village.

The Republic of China on Taiwan uses a slightly different system, with streamlined provinces and no prefectures. See Political divisions of the Republic of China for more details.

Administrative divisions

Levels

The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for three levels: the province, county, and township. However, two more levels have been inserted in actual implementation: the prefecture, under provinces; and the village, under townships. (There is a six level, the district public office, under counties, but it is being abolished.)

Each of the levels correspond to a level in the Civil service of the People's Republic of China.

Province level

The People's Republic of China administers 33 province-level (省级 shěngjí) divisions, including 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities, and 2 special administrative regions. The Republic of China administers 2 municipalities and 2 provinces (though both provincial governments have been largely streamlined).

In mainland China, provinces are theoretically subservient to the PRC central government, but in practice provincial officials have a large amount of discretion with regard to economic policy. Unlike the United States, the power of the central government was (with the exception of the military) not exercised through a parallel set of institutions until the early 1990s. The actual practical power of the provinces has created what some economists call federalism with Chinese characteristics.

Most of the provinces of China, with the exception of the provinces in the northeast, have boundaries which were established during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Sometimes provincial borders veer markedly away from cultural or geographical boundaries, a phenomenon described as "dog's teeth interlocking" (犬牙交错 quǎnyájiāocuò). This was an attempt by the imperial government to discourage separatism and warlordism through a divide and rule policy. Nevertheless, provinces have come to serve an important cultural role in China. People tend to be identified in terms of their native provinces, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants.

The most recent administrative changes have included the elevation of Hainan and Chongqing to provincial level status and the organization of Hong Kong and Macau as Special Administrative Regions. In Taiwan, Taipei and Kaohsiung were elevated to the status of centrally administered municipalities after the retreat of the KMT-led government.

Provinces

Provinces (省 shěng) are the most common type of province-level division.

Disputed province

Main article: Political status of Taiwan

Since its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China has considered Taiwan to be its 23rd province. However, the Republic of China currently controls this province, which consists of Taiwan island and the Pescadores. The ROC also controls the Kinmen and (part of) Lienchiang counties of Fujian province, and officially claims all of mainland China (including Tibet), outer Mongolia and Tuva. Though this claim was unofficially dropped by then ROC President Lee Teng-hui in 1991, this action was not officially approved by the National Assembly.

Maps of China published in Taiwan will often show provincial boundaries as they were in 1949 which do not match the current administrative structure as decided by the Communist Party of China post-1949.

Autonomous regions

Autonomous regions (自治区 zìzhìqū) are province-level divisions with a designated ethnic minority, and are guaranteed more rights under the constitution. For example, they have a chairman (where regular provinces have governors), who must be of the ethnic group as specified by the autonomous region (Tibetan, Uighur, etc)

Autonomous regions were established after communist takeover, following Soviet nationality policy. There are five in total.

Municipalities

Municipalities (直辖市 zhíxiáshì) are large cities that have the same administrative level as provinces. Municipalities directly control county-level divisions, without an intervening prefecture-level. In practice, the actual metropolitan area of a municipality is only a tiny fraction of its total area; the rest of the municipality consists of towns and farmland. Chongqing is an extreme example of this — the rural population of this municipality exceeds its urban population.

There are 4 municipalities in the People's Republic of China.

There are 2 municipalities administered by the ROC. These are quite different from the municipalities found in Mainland China in that they govern only a portion of the metropolitan areas of which they are a part. See Political divisions of the Republic of China.

Since these two cities were elevated after 1949 by a government the PRC considered no longer legitimate, the PRC does not consider them to be centrally administered municipalities and refers to Taipei, and not Jhongsing Village, as the provincial capital of Taiwan.

Special administrative regions

Special administrative regions (特別行政區/特别行政区 tèbiéxíngzhèngqū), or SAR's, are local administrative regions enjoying a high degree of autonomy under the One country, two systems arrangement, and come directly under the central government. Special administrative regions were provided for in the 1982 Constitution in anticipation of the retrocession of Hong Kong and Macau, but were only established in 1997 and 1999 in Hong Kong and Macau respectively when China resumed its exercise of sovereignty in these regions.

There are two SAR's in China. Since they are small, they are not subdivided into formal levels of government. (Hong Kong, however, is divided into semi-formal districts.)

Prefecture level

For a complete listing of all the prefecture-level divisions of China, see the article for each province.

Prefecture-level (地级 dìjí) divisions are a level of administration that exists only on mainland China, not Taiwan. As of February 1, 2004, there are 333 prefecture-level divisions, including 283 cities, 17 prefectures, 30 autonomous prefectures, and 3 leagues in mainland China.

The vast majority of prefecture-level divisions are prefecture-level cities (地级市 dìjíshì). These are not really "cities" in the traditional sense of the word, since they are actually large administrative regions that cover both urban and rural areas. Most provinces are divided into only prefecture-level cities.

Prefectures (地区 dìqū) are another level of government found at the prefecture-level. These used to be the dominant prefecture-level division across all of China, which is why this administrative level is called "prefecture-level". However, they were replaced for the most part by prefecture-level cities in the 1990s. Today, prefectures are restricted mostly to Xinjiang and Tibet.

Leagues (盟 méng) are effectively the same as prefectures, but they are to be found only in Inner Mongolia. Like prefectures, leagues have mostly been replaced with prefecture-level cities. The unique name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia.

Autonomous prefectures (自治州 zìzhìzhōu) are prefectures with one or several designated ethnic minority/minorities. These are mostly to be found in the western parts of the country.

County level

For a complete listing of all the county-level divisions of China, follow the links in these tables

As of February 1, 2004, there are 2861 county-level (县级 xiànjí) divisions, including 848 districts, 374 cities, 1467 counties, 117 autonomous counties, 49 banners, 3 autonomous banners, 2 special regions and 1 forestry area in mainland China. The Republic of China governs 23 county-level divisions, including 18 counties and 5 provincial municipalities.

Counties (县 xiàn) are the most common county-level division. Counties have continuously existed since the Warring States Period, much earlier than any other level of government in China. However, they were confusingly translated as "prefectures" or "districts" into English for most of that period.

Autonomous counties (自治县 zìzhìxiàn) are counties with one or several designated ethnic minority/minorities. These are analogous to autonomous regions (at the province-level) and autonomous prefectures (at the prefecture-level).

Inner Mongolia has banners (旗 qí) and autonomous banners (自治旗 zìzhìqí), which are the same as counties and autonomous counties except in name. The name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia.

County-level cities (县级市 xiànjíshì) are, like prefecture-level cities, not "cities" in the traditional sense of the word, since they are actually large administrative regions that cover both urban and rural areas. It was popular for counties to become county-level cities in the 1990s, though this has since been halted. In Taiwan, county-level cities are known as provincial cities (省轄市 shěngxiáshì).

Districts (市辖区 shìxiáqū or simply 区 qū) are another type of county-level division. These were formerly the subdivisions of urban areas, consisting of built-up areas only. In recent years, however, many counties have been converted into districts, so that today districts are often just like counties, with towns, villages, and farmland.

In addition there are a few special cases. There is a forestry area (林区 línqū) in Hubei province, Shennongjia, that is a county-level division; so are two special districts (特区 tèqū) in Guizhou province.

Township level

As of December 31, 2003 there are 44067 township-level (乡级 xiāngjí) divisions, including 20226 towns, 16636 townships, 1147 ethnic townships, 279 sumu, 2 ethnic sumu, 5751 subdistricts, and 26 district public offices in mainland China. The Republic of China administers 32 county-administered cities, 226 rural townships, and 61 urban townships. See Political divisions of the Republic of China.

In general, urban areas are divided into subdistricts (街道办事处 jiēdàobànshìchù or simply 街办 jiēbàn, literally "street offices"), while rural areas are divided into towns (镇 zhèn), townships (乡 xiāng), and ethnic townships (民族乡 mínzúxiāng). Sumu (苏木 sūmù) and ethnic sumu (民族苏木 mínzúsūmù) are the same as townships and ethnic townships, but are unique to Inner Mongolia.

The Republic of China is different from mainland China in that it also has county-administered cities (縣轄市 xiànxiáshì), which are cities at the township level. The People's Republic of China has no equivalent of this. Also, the urban townships and rural townships of the Republic of China are the same as towns and townships of the mainland; the difference is in the translation to English.

District public offices (区公所 qūgōngsuǒ) are a vestigial level of government in mainland China. These once represented an extra level of government between the county- and township-levels. Today there are very few of these remaining and they are gradually being phased out.

Village level

The village level serves as organizational (census, mail system) and not so much importance in political representative power. Basic local divisions like neighborhoods and communities are not informal like in the West, but have defined boundaries and designated heads (one per area):

In general, urban areas are organized into neighborhood committees (居民委员会 jūmínwěiyuánhuì or simply 居委会 jūwěihuì), while rural areas are organized into village committees (村民委员会 cūnmínwěiyuánhuì or simply 村委会 cūnwěihuì) or villager groups (村民小组 cūnmínxiǎozǔ). A "village" in this case can either be a natural village (自然村 zìráncūn), or one that spontaneously and naturally exists, or an administrative village (行政村 xíngzhèngcūn), which is a bureaucratic entity.

Instead of neighborhood committees and sub-districts, a city could have:

• neighborhood (居民区 jūmínqū)
• community (社区 shèqū)

Special cases

Although every single administrative division has a clearly defined level associated with it, sometimes an entity may be given more autonomy than its level allows for.

For example, a few of the largest prefecture-level cities are given more autonomy. These are known as sub-provincial cities (副省级市 fùshěngjíshì), meaning that they are given a level of power higher than a prefecture, but still lower than a province. Such cities are half a level higher than what they would normally be.

A similar case may exist with some county-level cities. Some county-level cities are given more autonomy. These cities are known as sub-prefecture-level cities (副地级市 fùdìjíshì), meaning that they are given a level of power higher than a county, but still lower than a prefecture. Such cities are also half a level higher than what they would normally be.

An extreme example is Pudong District of Shanghai. Although its status as a district would define it as county-level, the district head of Pudong is given sub-provincial powers. In other words, it is one and a half levels higher than what it would normally be.

Summary

This table summarizes the divisions of the area administered by the People's Republic of China.

History

Main article: History of the political divisions of China

Before the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by a network of kings, nobles, and tribes. The rivalry of these groups culminated in the Warring States Period, and the state of Qin eventually emerged dominant.

The Qin Dynasty was determined not to allow China to fall back into disunity, and therefore designed the first hierarchical administrative divisions in China, based on two levels: jùn commanderies and xiàn counties (xian is usually translated as "districts" or "prefectures" in Sinologist literature, but here we will use "county", the contemporary term). The Han Dynasty that came immediately after added zhōu (usually translated as "provinces") as a third level on top, forming a three-tier structure.

The Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty abolised commanderies, and added circuits (dào, later lù under the Song) on top, maintaining a three-tier system that lasted through the Song Dynasty. (As a second-level division, zhou are translated as "prefectures".) The Mongol-established Yuan Dynasty introduced the modern precursors to provinces, bringing the number of levels to four. This system was then kept more or less intact until the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty to rule China.

The Republic of China streamlined the levels to just provinces and counties, and made the first attempt to extend political administration beyond the county level by establishing townships below counties. This was also the system officially adopted by the People's Republic of China in 1949, which defined the administrative divisions of China as three levels: provinces, counties, and townships.

In practice, however, more levels were inserted. Greater administrative areas were inserted on top of provinces, but they were soon abolished, in 1954. Prefectures were inserted between provinces and counties; they continue be ubiquitously applied to nearly all areas of China. District public offices were inserted between counties and townships; once ubiquitous as well, they are currently being abolished, and very few remain.

The most recent developments major developments have been the establishment of Chongqing as a municipality and the creation of Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions.

Reform

In recent years there have been calls to reform the administrative divisions and levels of China. Although actual proposals differ in their details, many of the proposals contain the following points:

Redrawing the provinces

The current province boundaries of China were mostly drawn during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, and are criticized by some as relics of a divide and rule policy that prevailed during those times. Current provinces frequently transcend major cultural and geographical divides, encompassing areas that have little in common. On the other hand, many cultural blocs, such as the Yangtze delta, the Huai watershed, or the Hakka lands, are divided along boundaries that do not actually indicate any geographical or cultural divide. Proponents for redrawing province boundaries believe that boundaries should be redrawn to better reflect cultural and geographical divides, which would in turn help to reduce conflict within provinces, promote regional cooperation, and increase administrative efficiency.

Opponents of this, on the other hand, point to the fact that despite disparities within provinces, these boundaries have remained more or less stable for many centuries, and form an important part of identity for all Chinese. Opponents also doubt whether realigning province borders to cultural boundaries would really help in promoting regional cooperation -- would it not simply lead to regionalism instead?

Making the provinces smaller

Proponents point to the size of current provinces, such as Henan, Shandong, and Sichuan, all of which have populations of close to 100 million people. It is said that such enormous size puts a staggering burden on provincial governments, resulting in inefficiency and poor responsiveness to grassroots needs and desires. In addition, some proponents of province shrinking believe that the current size of larger provinces has given them too much bargaining power with the central government, and is a negative influence on the territorial integrity of China.

(A variation on this theme is a call to increase the number of municipalities by carving major cities out of the provinces -- this would basically achieve the same effect.)

Opponents of province shrinking believe that increasing the number of provinces would simply increase the inefficiency of governmental bureaucracy. They also believe that smaller provinces would make the coordination of pan-regional efforts more difficult and, consequently, affect economic development. Moreover, they believe that current provinces are important parts of identity for individual Chinese and should not be tampered with.

The recent establishment of Hainan province (out of Guangdong) and Chongqing municipality (out of Sichuan) can be seen as experiments along this vein.

Abolishing the prefecture level

This proposal has recently gathered quite a lot of popularity. To understand the reasons, however, we must go into the background of prefectures.

By the constitution of China, provinces are supposed to govern counties directly -- and prefectures (autonomous ones excepted) are neither mentioned nor endorsed. So when prefectures were originally being set up, they were an unofficial quasi-level to help provinces govern very large numbers of counties. As a result, prefectures are (unlike provinces or counties) often seen as nothing more than bureaucratic institutions.

However, the constitution does allow for some cities, which are a constitutionally guaranteed level of administration, to be "prefecture-level" (in the sense that they can take surrounding counties under them), though the original intention was likely to have just a few very large cities in each province be prefecture-level cities that govern only the counties in their immediate suburbs. The rest of each province would still consist of counties under unofficial prefectures. (This was, in fact, the general situation before the 90's.)

In recent years, however, there has been a trend to replace prefectures wholesale with prefecture-level cities. This takes advantage of the ambiguous wording in the constitution, and basically turns unofficial prefectures overnight into official levels endorsed in the constitution. This process took place very fast -- most provinces now govern all or most of their counties through only prefecture-level cities. In other words, an extra level of government has been "inserted" into the administrative structure.

Proponents of reform say that this twist in events undermines the entire administrative structure of China by "sneaking in" an extra level "out of nowhere". More levels, they argue, lead to more corruption, more government spending, more inefficiency and idleness, and greater distance between the grassroots and the government. In addition, they claim that this arrangement over-emphasizes prefecture capitals (now they can claim, nominally and legally, to "be" the entire prefecture), and they argue that this has given prefectures license to sap resources that would otherwise go directly to counties. This in turn accentuates regional conflicts and the rich-poor gap. Also, if provinces are shrunk as well (see the proposal above), then there is even less need left for any prefectures at all to exist -- after all, they only exist because provinces are too large.

(Autonomous prefectures, which are guaranteed in the constitution, are mostly exempted from such proposals.)

Opponents of this change believe that it is unrealistic to expect any change to come to current provincial boundaries, and hence prefectures are here to stay, at least in the short term. Moreover, they claim that the sheer size of provinces (which, according to them, do not need to be shrunk) means that prefectures are needed as an intermediary level. Finally, they defend the establishment of prefecture-level cities by arguing that it helps in encouraging urbanization, and cooperative development of entire regions.

Hainan and Chongqing, already mentioned above as apparent experiments in province shrinking, can also be seen as experiments in the abolishment of prefectures. Hainan has two prefecture-level cities, but those control only districts (i.e. their own urbanized area); all the counties of Hainan are under the direct charge of the province, with no prefecture-level intermediary. Chongqing, which is province-sized (despite its status as a municipality), has no intermediate prefecture-level subdivisions of any sort.

In addition, the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, and Henan have initiated a number of reforms, giving counties a wide range of rights currently held by prefectures.

Increasing the size of counties and townships

Proponents of this believe that the sheer size of the Chinese bureaucracy (and hence, the sheer amount of resources that it consumes) is due to the extraordinary number of counties and townships -- and they believe that the number can be reduced. Some provinces have, in fact, begun experimenting with this proposal.

Opponents of this believe that the population density of China means that tiny counties and townships are needed for effective government. They also claim that any drastic change to grassroots-level government would have adverse effects on social stability.

Bypassing the provincial hierarchy

Another reform is to have certain institutions of the central government form institutions which completely bypass the number provincial hierarchies. The model for this is federal institutions of the United States and the purpose is to prevent provincial and local interference in some functions of the central government. The Military Area Commands of the People's Liberation Army have long been administered in this fashion precisely to prevent local officials from exercising control and influence over the military. One recent example of this reform has been the People's Bank of China which in 1999 abolished all provincial and local branches creating regional districts which do not correspond to provincial boundaries. A similar reform has been suggested for the judicial system creating circuit and district courts which do not correspond to provinical boundaries.

See also

• History of the political divisions of China
• List of China administrative regions by area
• List of China administrative regions by population
• List of China administrative regions by population density
• List of China administrative regions by gross domestic product
• Capitals of subnational entities of China

External links

• Schematic Representation of the Provinces of China
• Literal Meaning and Brief History of the Provinces
• Provinces of the People's Republic of China
• Statistics
• Descriptions of the levels (in Traditional Chinese)
  • An all-in-one-page version
• Political divisions down to town-level (in Simplified Chinese)

de:Administrative Gliederung der Volksrepublik China fr:Provinces de Chine nl:Provincies van China ja:中華人民共和国の行政区分 pt:Subdivisões da República Popular da China simple:List of provinces of China sl:Upravna delitev Kitajske fi:Kiinan alueellinen hallinto sv:Administrativa regioner i Kina zh:中国行政区划